Al Franken: Recent Episodes
Al Franken
I spoke with my friend Karen Diver who was the first Chairwoman of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, one of seven Chippewa (or Ojibwe) bands in the state. In 2016 Karen went on to work in the White House as President Obama’s Special Assistant on Native Americans and sat on the President’s Domestic Policy Council. She is now a faculty member at both the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Minnesota Duluth.
I’ve known Karen for about twelve years. Back in early 2007, two days after I announced for the Senate, I went to meet with Karen in northern Minnesota. She was a little surprised I came. “We don’t usually see politicians until about two months before the election.
I told her that I wanted to serve on the Indian Affairs Committee, in part because Paul Wellstone had. And no Minnesota senator had served on the committee since. Karen was an enormous help to me during my time on the Committee. So, I wanted to talk to her about some of the challenges facing Indian Country.
In this conversation, we talk about the failure of the federal government to honor its treaties with Native Americans and the challenges that tribes face.
Before I speak with Karen, I tell the story of my first Pow Wow, which I think you’ll enjoy. I spared Karen because she’s enjoyed it so many times herself in many settings.
Click on my latest interview with Norm Ornstein, Washington's MVP (Most Versatile Pundit) and Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne. I open with my spot-on impression of All Things Considered's avuncular host Robert Segal. (EJ thinks I put a little southern in it, but he has no ear at all.) We talk about what Democrats should be focusing on in the 2020 election and our inability to effectively frame our message. "All our bumper stickers end with "continued on next bumper sticker."" Norm and EJ ask if 2020 will be a "Throw the Bums Out!" election? Or an "Are You Better Off than You Were Four Years Ago?" election? And also whether two question marks in one sentence is confusing?
I had a conversation with Michael Lewis, the author of books like the Big Short, Moneyball, and The Blind Side, about his latest bestseller, The Fifth Risk. I loved this book because it shows how perverse the Trump Administration is without spending a lot of time with Trump. Our conversation focuses on the corrupt, venal, incurious jerks Trump has appointed to replace brilliant, mission-driven patriots who served in the Obama Administration.
On this State of the Union night, when some non-Fox commentator may very well call Donald Trump "presidential," this interview will give you example after example of what a disaster it is to have a president who isn’t the least bit interested in how the federal government actually works.
This is a great one! Please listen, won’t you?
Nancy Gertner is a professor at the prestigious Harvard Law School, a position she was offered because she is one hundred percent Ashkenazi Jew.
Jeffrey Toobin covers legal stuff for CNN and The New Yorker.
I am not a lawyer, but played one in a sketch. I was also a member of the Judiciary Committee in the prestigious U.S. Senate.
We had a lively conversation about how Trump and the Republicans are packing the federal courts with Federalist Society judges, all of whom have taken a secret oath to overturn Roe v. Wade, if they get the opportunity. I also did my Chuck Grassley impression, which Nancy and Jeffrey both thought was amazingly accurate.
Please give a listen…won’t you?
Sometimes, even often, I worry about how the Mueller Investigation will end. When Matt Whitaker was appointed Acting Attorney General, it occurred to me that this guy has the power to block any Mueller Report from becoming public.
So, I asked David Frum of The Atlantic Monthly to discuss the threat Donald Trump presents to our democracy, a threat he describes brilliantly in his bestseller, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic.
David and I had a lively discussion. (Sometimes, I interrupted him.) But we had a lot of fun, and David invited me to his annual Chanukah party, where I met a lot of his friends.
Give it a listen, won’t you?
With the passing of President George H.W. Bush, we've heard so much about the man, his courage in war, his statesmanship on the world stage, his generosity of spirit, and kindness to family and friends. One of his friends, Dana Carvey, is also a friend of mine. And I talked with Dana a couple of days ago. I hope you enjoy it:
I’ve been thinking a lot about health care and the role it played in the midterms. So when I was in Minnesota a few weeks ago, I sat down to talk with Andy Slavitt, the head of Medicare and Medicaid during the last two years of the Obama administration. Andy is one of the most passionate and insightful voices on health care today. You may also remember him as the guy who stepped in to save HealthCare.gov, the Affordable Care Act website that kept crashing after its disastrous roll-out.
Since leaving the government, Andy has formed a non-profit, The United States of Care, which is advocating for universal coverage in our country. I thought some of you also might be interested in our conversation so I recorded it. Hope you enjoy it.